I wanted to share something with you that I'm pretty excited about. This past Friday (December 11) I took two of my favorite clients with Horizon Bank on a float trip on the Lower Colorado River (LCR). About ¼-mile from the takeout one of the anglers hooked a big Guadalupe bass that I quickly netted. We started taking pictures of the beautiful bass when I notice an odd growth up near its dorsal fin. Upon examination I discovered a tag covered in a layer algae, which I gently scraped away.

That’s when the light bulb came on in my head and I realized this is one of the fish tagged in this recent Texas Tech/TPWD Guadalupe bass study that All Water Guides has been involved with. I took a bunch of pictures for documentation—as well length and weight—before we released her.

On my way home to Austin I called Matt Acre, a graduate student at Texas Tech, one of the biologist who have dedicated the last 2-years to this study. I told him the story including the location and he could not believe what he was hearing. He stated that the particular type of tag was only used on 200 bass between Austin and Columbus Texas. He said there are literally thousands of Guadalupe bass every mile of LCR, so the odds of us catching one with a tag was astronomical. There are Approximately 100 river miles between Longhorn dam and Columbus—talk about a needle in a haystack!

Here are a few pictures of the fish. The clients could tell I was pretty excited—to say the least. This is one more unique story from the experienced guides at AWG who have a lifetime of knowledge and experience on this gem of a fishery.

All Water Guides friend Brandon, owner of Sea Level Apparel wrote up a quick blog post about the striper fishing he got into after the floods and before the trout on the Guadalupe River. I asked him to tell me a little something about himself as an introduction. "when i'm not running SeaLevel, I fish" he replied, a complicated and profound man of many words it seems.

Grip and tail fin

Striped Bass and The Other Guadalupe River

By: Brandon Fox

One doesn’t immediately think of the Texas Hill Country when this fish comes to mind. The blistering cold winds and rocky shorelines of the mighty northeast are usually first to thought, along with surf rods and funny accents.

Texas Line sider

Snapping out of that, lets head south. Way south. To 30 minutes outside of San Antonio. Here the Guadalupe River flows from its headwaters near Hunt, TX down to Sattler, TX where it forms Canyon Lake, and thus a tailrace fishery below its dam. While the main attraction here are the rainbow trout that are stocked by both GRTU and the state of Texas, there is a fishable amount of striper lurking in the deeper pockets. This summer, heavy rains rose Canyon Lake levels and forced the flood gates to be opened, washing in hundreds of striper in the up to 7000 cfs flows. The flows then dropped, and the striper became stuck in the deeper sections, providing you and I with some awesome fishing to be had.

Wet head shot

When targeting these things, I usually bring along heavier gear intended for saltwater. A 7 or 8 wt rod will do just fine, matched with an intermediate or full sink line. Leaders do not have to be anything fancy, and a 10 pound tippet will usually suffice. If fishing an area with boulders or submerged trees, you can always bump it up as necessary. As far as flies go, if the striper are feeding, whatever fly you throw will probably get hit. Some favorites of mine are the Casey Smartt’s Deadhead Minnow, OR Matt Bennett’s Lunch Money fly. As always the super trusty clouser minnow will work as it does for just about anything. Striper are a predominantly dark, harsh weather species. Cloudy and rainy days are usually the best bet, along with sun up and sundown being other key feeding times. Sunny, bluebird days may be great to fish in for you and I, but the striper most often shut down in settings like this. You’ll see them cruising around, but getting a strike is another story.

In your face! That's Mr. Clouser to you.

With the exception of a few 30+ pound fish lurking around, the majority of the fish in the Guadalupe Tailrace are small; we’re talking 15 inches or so and under. However, as you might know, striped bass are natives to saltwater, and they know how to bring a hit. In feeding mode they will charge a fly with abandon, strike with vicious intent, and fight above their weight class no matter how big or small. So - find a dark, cold, stormy morning, and go make yourself miserable for a few hours. When you see the splash, the flash of silver, and your backing screaming off of the reel, you’ll find a way to smile.

We used to get out there at the drop of a hat to fish together, but now as middle aged men with wives, children, jobs, lives, it takes a bit more effort. I mean, we fish for a living but to fish for pleasure is rare. On Nov 2nd 2014, I met my old friend Alvin Dedeaux for a day of fishing on the Colorado River in Central Texas. It was the coldest morning of the fall season thus far with a temperature of just over 40° fahrenheit. A much welcomed change for all inhabitants of this region. Alvin and I were to meet around 9am, but an exchange of text messages indicated that we both got out of the house early in anticipation of a day of fishing with an old friend. I arrived at the put in just before Alvin and hopped out of the truck with my coffee to judge how the weather fit my clothes. It was a perfectly brisk morning, and steam was rising from the river like a curtain rising before the show begins. With a deep sigh, I tried to let go of the anxiety brought on by the morning news on my satellite radio. Ebola, ISIS, global warming, pivotal elections all looming as imminent threats, and I think to myself, “Was it selfish to bring children into this world?”

A few disappointed duck hunters were arriving back at the boat ramp from a fruitless dawn with their soaked camouflage and droopy perspectives as we put our gear in the boat. They seemed like solders of a beaten army who’s enemy had escaped unharmed. Our shift was beginning as theirs was ending, and hopefully our luck would be better. After shoving off, Alvin rowed the boat out beyond the grass line before starting the motor and we took off downstream towards the first sign of fish. His boat is a Hog Island Skiff with a jet drive outboard and oars. A rare craft for this region but perfectly suited for the terrain because you can fish and row through productive sections of river, and motor through non productive sections. Alvin and I both prefer to fish moving water rather than the backed up lake sections of the river because moving water offers a little more excitement, and also a better chance of catching the Guadalupe Bass which prefers current to slack water. The Guadalupe bass is at the top of our admired species list. Not only is it the state fish of Texas, but it also offers a fight equivalent to a largemouth of nearly twice its size. Like my friend Riverhorse says “ They’re half sack and half heart!”. I was transfixed and nearly hypnotized while Alvin motored the boat downstream as I stared at the glassy surface of the river over the bow and studied the perfect reflection of the sky as we slid around obstructions and hovered over shallow rocks and sand bottom. My mind was slowly letting go of the world news and other peripheral stresses when Alvin killed the motor and said “Alright, lets fish”.

Alvin and I met around 1991 when I walked into Whole Earth Provision Company where he worked and proclaimed that we would be fishing together soon. He said ok, with a slight hesitant chuckle. You see, previously, upon buying my first fly outfit at The Austin Angler a few days before, I asked the owner Larry “who should I go fish with to learn?” I could hardly believe it when he said “you should hook up with Alvin to fish” because I was already familiar with Alvin and was a fan of the band he played in back in those days called Bad Mutha Goose. I had no idea he was a fly fisherman. I couldn't wait for a random encounter, I had to go find him and force the issue so I went to where he worked and invited myself on the next fishing trip. We ended up going fishing on the gulf coast for reds and trout that weekend, became best friends for life and have fished together ever since.

Within moments of killing the motor, I was hooked into my first bass. It was an average sized Guadalupe, full of spirit and worthy of the name. Shortly after, another came, then another, and another. The fifth fish grabbed the fly with extreme aggression as it passed over a submerged log and took off sideways with surprising speed. I kept even pressure but with a violent head shake the line was broken and it was gone in less than 5 seconds of being hooked. I am presuming that it was a state record, no, world record Guadalupe bass, what else could it have been? None the less, the loss sat me down in front of the boat while the reality of what happened sank deep into my bones causing me to slump. Alvin said “ok then , let me try that shit!” and I handed over the rod and grabbed the oars to row for a while. My depressed state was uplifted quickly as Alvin began to catch fish, also one after the other. Alvin is the Zen master of the sport of fly fishing. He is likely the most laid-back individual you’ll ever meet who only speaks in profound truths. I've seen him upset only a couple times in the 24 years I've known him and even then he was subdued. A certified casting instructor from Joan Wolf’s School of fly casters, he has perfect form and a cast that seems to straighten out further than the effort suggests and always within inches of the bank, stump, weed bed or any other target. Once again my mind was drifting into a blissful absence as he casted, stripped line, and set the hook on a half a dozen fish, one of which was an exemplary Guadalupe worthy of a photograph. After which Alvin proclaimed “Let’s get the hell out of here” as we drifted along the bank through the current and into a large slow pool of the river. And that's how it went; we fished through stretches with current, and we motored through large deep sections without current. Not that the deep slow pools don’t fish. In fact, there is excellent fishing in the slow deep stretches, but you have to fish them slow and deep. We were covering many miles of river that day and needed to keep moving. Every place we stopped to fish looked like a picture out of a fly fishing for bass book. Large rock formations in the river created deep eddies and swirling current gathered debris around downed trees and other obstructions, and with fish in all of it. We were throwing flies of Alvin’s creation. Long colorful rabbit strip flies with dear hair, wool, or synthetic heads and large bobble eyes on them. When he opened his guide box of flies it looked like the entire cast of the Muppets were trying to bust out of it. It made me quite jealous because fly tying is a longtime passion of mine but somehow, I hadn't tied one in forever. Constantly working and having children hadn't stopped my buddy Alvin from tying. I vowed to myself to get busy!

The day raced by which they seem to do when you’re perfectly content. We shared recent stories about our kids, our wives and talked mostly about fishing, specifically for bass. Why they do the things they do? At some point we had caught so many fish that we switched to poppers permanently and were often interrupted by unexpected blow ups on our fly. We also spoke of Austin and its growth over the past 20 years and how it had changed. We remarked at how shocking it was to be in such a beautiful place so close to a major city without any people around us. I mean we saw nobody! Like the river was our own secret. Why? On one hand, we felt lucky that such a resource was ours and ours alone to enjoy, but then a dark cloud moved over that notion. If no one knows about it, then how does one care about it? One doesn't care about it, or doesn't know to care about it. One needs to care about it!

20 years ago, Austin was not in the drought stricken condition it is now, and it also supported a fraction of the human population that it does now. Many small rivers and creeks that Alvin and I used to fish around Austin have dried up, never to flow again some fear. The Highland Lakes and it’s tributaries that we fished were spilling over with water and the dams were regularly open. There were endless striper and white bass migrations to the dams and up the rivers, and the Pedernales River at 71 was always full. All could be due to natural variations in our climate throughout time perhaps and even more likely that we all have something to do with it. Regardless, after a quick study of our recent history it is conceivable that the lower Colorado River could stop flowing, is likely to stop flowing! I circled back on the idea of having children in such an age, and came to realize that our only salvation is to educate children about the urgency to protect and conserve our waterways, about their consumption of water, about their stewardship of the environment and their respect for living things.

My contemplative thought was interrupted suddenly by a text from my wife which read “Status?”. Both of our wives had been watching our children all day while we fished, and so it was time to get back to it. Alvin and I could have stopped fishing hours ago and been plenty happy. It was a day to remember! The River and her bass had been more than kind to us. We arrived at the boat ramp, trailered the boat and hurried to the local grocery store for a six pack, since I had accidentally left the Yeti full of beer in my garage that morning - ouch! The main highway back to Austin looked busy but moving. There is an old county road that meanders back to Austin on the north side of the river. Zen master Alvin said he would take the back road home out of principle, so I said I’d take the highway and race him back to town. Within a few miles back towards Austin I hit a wall of traffic which wasn't moving at all. The Formula One race had just ended and the international crowd had left the race track and inundated the insufficient infrastructure. After a while of sitting still, I decided to turn around and head back for the country road on the other side of the river. I called Alvin, he was almost home.

I recently read a “must do" article for Bass fishing on the fly and watched an older video that put tournament gear fisherman along side a fly guy in the Sacramento Delta. Both were very informative. I thought I’d write up something since I can’t just copy and paste the "must do" article and slap my name to it and my movie-making carrier is a long ways off. I’ll give my take on what I’ve learned in my years of fly fishing for Bass and more recently guiding for them with All Water Guides here in Austin Texas. We seem to have a unique thing going on here in Texas. We target Bass in a manner more similar to salt water fishing than fresh. We row our goofy jet boats as if they were drift boats on some western river. River Bass bring an element of challenge to the table that requires a well-rounded angler. Here are my thoughts…a few of them at least.

1: This is work!

As Brian “Lucky” Porter said in the movie "Zero 2 Hero" about fishing for musky… "You’re not gently presenting a number 14 parachute Adams to a rising trout, you’re doing work.” Now, we're not catching Musky but we do work! I prefer 8wts to 6’s and can realistically expect to hit the bank every 5 feet for hours. We need to put the fly on the bank with S.W.A.T. team like presentation then start fishing it. Once that fly hits the water you need to retrieve it in a "come and get me Mr. Bass manner." Bass in our rivers are aggressive and they want to hunt. When I have anglers on my boat that understand this, we do well, fish practically jump in the boat. But it is work and it’s intense. If you’ve been dead drifting terrestrials with 4wts and haven’t spent much time with bigger gear, ask for a little help. After all it’s just a fly rod and feathers. Line loads the rod and the rod reciprocates that back into the line. I love trout fishing but Bass aren’t trout and our Bass are big, aggressive and live on treadmills. So eat your Wheaties and be ready to do a lot of casting with big gear. Regarding the retrieval, sometimes the fish want it fast or sometimes slow. Find a cadence that you can reproduce. It’s easier to deviate from a constant, meaning if what your doing isn’t working, know what isn’t working so you can slow it down or speed it up.

2: We're fly fishing not casting. Fish every cast.Just today I had this conversation with a client. He hadn't fished in a year and was rusty. His casts were less than perfect but probably better than most. Again and again he'd pick up a perfectly fishable cast that he didn't think was good enough. There is no such thing as a bad cast on my boat. If that fly hits the water you're fishing, make the most of it. It's become my mantra (I have many) while on the oars, to say, “Fish that cast” meaning exactly that. What you may think is a horrible cast and it probably was (I’m a terrible caster I don’t mind saying it) that fly is in the water and that’s where the fish are, so leave it and start fishing. I think a problem with folks sometimes (and again, me included) is we spend way too much time re-casting a perfectly good and fishable presentation because of what we thought of our cast. As Xienie in the movie "Low and Clear" states, “Ugly casts catch fish too.” After all we’re fishing not casting.

3: They ain't always on the surface.I’m a weirdo and any one that knows me will not argue that point. I like streamer fishing, not sure why but I do. I don’t fall in the group of anglers that say “nothing like top water action." Don’t get me wrong - it’s a blast, I however would much rather throw big shad patterns on a sinking line any day. To each their own though. I am in the business of putting clients on fish and when the frogs are singing and the conditions call for its poppers…poppers…poppers. The other 99% of the time you gotta do what the river tells ya. Get your head out of the boat and watch what’s happening around you. If you’re not seeing action on the surface go to where the fish are. I’ve had folks in my boat mention “those Bass Masters” and their “glitter boats with all those rods” in a typical fly fisherman manner. What they don’t get is all those rods allow them to, in a systematic manner, dissect the water column. What they also don't get is those dudes catch fish and we could learn a lot from them. When I go fishing I’ve got at least 2 rigged rods, surface and sub surface. I think 2 could easily be 4 though. Surface, sink tip, intermediate and full on get down and dirty depth finders. If having multiple rods doesn't fit the budget purchase some spools. If the fish don’t come to you go get them. If you feed them they will eat.

4. Your confidence fly.One of my more recent clients while fishing stated, “Winston, I just don’t have any confidence in this fly.” I could have hugged him! It was a good fly, one of my go to flies that always produces. He didn’t like it and that was it, out came the pliers and the fly box. Fish with what you’re confident in. In the subconscious of your deep inner fishing-ness it matters and the fishing will get better. This could be a touchy subject if you’ve hired a guide to fish water that he knows like the back of his hand. I get that and have been there. He’s the guide and who are we to tell him what we want to fish? I don’t think the fish care so neither should the guide. At the end of the day it’s your time on the water. If you're not excited about what you're throwing, our fishing (the actual act of fishing) will suffer. In a professional manner I handed the client my fly box, he picked a fly and on it went. We still got skunked but his whole essence changed by fishing a fly he had confidence in. That, I feel, is as important as fly selection. Listen to your guide but also interact with your guide.

5. Be systematic, be vocal.I try to always verbalize my ideas with whoever is rowing while I’m fishing and vice versa. This gets the boat working like a team. With clients I try to take a second as the river transitions to clue them in on what lies ahead and open them up to the marvelous thoughts that may or may not be running through my head at the time. I know it’s just fishing but having everyone on the same page really helps. It truly can be a team sport and systematically approaching a section of water and picking it apart as a team is as simple as coming up with a game plan and sticking to it. Fish the water in a manner that will produce more chances of hooking up. Don’t cast over spots 1, 2 and 3 for that fish that "just has to be" hiding in spot 4. Be patient. You never know what bruiser you could be casting over and longer casts have a lower success rate hook set wise. Be systematic, be deliberate and be calculating like the WBD (Weapon of Bass Destruction) you are.

6. Take a break.Sometimes you get in that grove. Your loops are tight; that fly is kissing the bank and you haven’t hit a tree in an hour… the world is right. Sometimes it’s like this all day; sometimes you lose that magic though. When this happens to me it’s time to get on the oars. I’ve never been able to “will” my way back into the magic. Instead my cast falls apart and I get frustrated and the fishing starts to suck. Take a break. Sit down; tell some more lies about the Yellowstone or throw ice cubes at your buddy if you’re out with one, snap some pictures or smoke a joint. Just stop. Smell the roses (or whatever) and break that cycle. Rest for a minute or 30 and get back after it. We’ve got all the time in the world to fish with focus and intensity and none to waste on being frustrated that our cast has all of a sudden gone to hell. Put the rod down, your muscles will know what to do when you pick it back up. Our brains get in the way sometimes.

NO TROUT SETTING

7. No trout setting, rod tips in the water.This could also be a mantra... I’m guilty as all hell about the trout setting thing too especially after I've been guiding a lot and haven't fished much. Rod tip on the water and pointing in the direction of the fly keeps the fly where it needs to be and slack line to a minimum. Whether it’s a popper or streamer it’s all about the initial grab and your strip set. Sure fish will be lost but if your fishing for Bass (or Redfish etc. etc) keep that rod out of the picture for now, it’s made to bend for casting purposes definitely not hook setting. Use that line instead. Tip down, rod butt out in front of you and strip set that hook. The salt guys have been preaching this for a long time and so have we. Once you’re tight, fight that fish in the normal manner. I’m not a huge fan of the rod up at a 45-degree angle all the time; I tend to keep my rod low using lots of lateral pressure on the fish, which also helps when they jump. Oh and Bass jump, it’s a predictable event though. They are deep, then less deep, then lesser deep, just like Tarpon (without the Tarpon) bow to the king of fresh water or Mr. Bass will throw that fly right back at you when he goes maverick. Be aggressive landing Mr. Bass and don’t worry about the reel, if that fish needs to be on the reel he’ll put himself there.

As always take it or leave it, I had fun writing it. Get out there and get you some ditch pickles…

We're going to be spreading the AWG love and propagating some propaganda in the next 6 weeks or so.Here's what we have going on.

Patagonia Austin

Sunday Sept 14th

A few of us have charmed our way into positions of Patagonia pro staff-ness, we will be joining Adam and his crew for a viewing of "low and clear" and after the show were going to hang out, Lie about fishing and drink all there free beer. Free beer should be just about all that needs to be said on this one but its not. If you haven’t seen “low and Clear” this is a great opportunity to do so.

Sportsman' FinestSaturday Sept 20thRumor is that poor ole Alvin and JT may be off to La La land to get punished by them big reds, in their absence Shea and Winston will be out at Sportsman’s Finest talking up all things on the fly, answering questions (hopefully) and most likely lying a little (we're talking fishing here). No free beer but this will be a fun event nonetheless. Please come say hello. We'll have our boats out and will do a little casting and demonstrations on what we've learned guiding clients over the years.

Orvis AustinSaturday Oct 4thOrvis Fall Days,Absolutely no story telling! Jef runs a tight ship out their and shenanigans will not be tolerated, that said. We will be there sucking the class out of the joint like a black hole…or something. In all seriousness the Orvis Austin Folks always put on a good event (free beer in the past) with some pretty interesting speakers speaking about interesting things.

Orvis Fall daysAWG has been invited up to Plano, we’re really not sure what this event will be like but we're going to be there with bells and whistles. If you're in the Plano area pay us a visit. We will be doing a demonstration much like the one at Sportsman’s finest for the Dallas area folks.

So here it is. I’m actually glad my laziness got the better of me as I’ll be able to do this in one sitting versus boring you all to tears with each individual step. I assumed this would take much longer than it did.

First picture of my new boat. About 30 seconds later my wife was informed of our new purchase.

After a bunch of research I decided on a SeaArk 1652 MVT (tunneled hull version). 16’ seemed about the right amount of boat, length wise and the wider the better. The decision to go with SeaArk was made after talking to several smaller boat builders in the Midwest, as they all seemed to, at some point in the conversation compare their boats to SeaArks in build, materials, etc. Alvin and JD had already made a couple trips to Currant River Marine (CRM) and under their advice I called Freddy to see what he had available. Long story short I was soon on my way to Currant River Marine in Doniphan, MO with my engine in the back of the Xterra. After a 16 hour drive they hung the engine, we ran the Currant River for a few minutes, and I signed some paperwork. By 5pm I was checked in to a cheap hotel ready to get a zero dark thirty start for the 16 hours back to Austin.

Freddy and the gang were worth every minute of the drive and their knowledge of lower-unit-less engines and boats is beyond awesome. I look forward to my return for a new engine.

Like I said in the previous post, I was going to do the exact same thing to this boat that I had done to the blue one. The SeaArk had a slight V in the Hull and I decided that needed to be addressed first. I had 4”x 4” 90 degree angle aluminium welded into the ribs to create a flat surface to build the flooring on. The flooring was Cedar planks that I sanded, epoxied, sanded, epoxied, sanded, epoxied and then sanded one more time with a final coat of spar varnish for the UV protection. I love wooden boats. My grandfather used to build them. I couldn’t not have the wood floors again, however, they are a huge pain in the ass to fit. I’m a huge fan of brute force and ignorance and in my diving days solved many problems with the idea that if a hammer wasn’t working a bigger one would. Fortunately, I was able to use the same tools my grandfather had used in his boat building; unfortunately his knowledge and experience did not magically pass through the tools as I had hoped it would. He died many years ago and I thought of him a lot while using them mostly during my many moments of frustration in not being able to beat the wood into submission with a larger hammer. The floors look great, however I can see every moment of frustration when my patience (or lack thereof) got the better of me. Guests don’t seem to mind.

Supervision a year later...

Once the side pieces were cut and fitted to the ribs of the boat the rest went pretty quickly. I also can’t help but to think of my daughter, Poppy, who supervised the last boat, she was only a few months old and was pretty easy to occupy. She’s now almost 2 and has ZERO ability to sit and keep my company.

So that’s the floors. I was, at first, going to do lean bars and knee braces however after the first couple trips I’ve found out they aren’t really needed. It’s my opinion that maybe they create a false since of security for the anglers and without them my clients seem to have a better awareness of themselves and their movements while in the boat as long as I communicate my intentions while on the oars which is better for a lot of reasons. Speaking of the oars, I also didn’t have to create the “frame” like I had before. Oar locks u-bolt directly to the gunwales, which I need to move about a foot forward (boat forward) to give the front guy a little more room.

I, of course, have a laundry list of things to do still with rod holders being the first and some sea deck type stuff for the front casting platform (it gets hot) but since the boat was new there was no need to paint and do all that other nonsense that kept me so busy on the last project. Having the blue boat in my past made doing this boat so much easier, mainly because it was new…

Please contact me with any questions that I most likely did not answer. Alvin, JD and I would be more than happy to share what we’ve learned. We all run different rigs each having their own pros and cons.

While Alvin and JD get to escape the summer heat of Texas, the rest of us will still run trips in the usual manner, however we’re going to be a little more inclined to do “half days” as opposed to the “full day trip” focusing on the early morning and late evenings.

During the next couple months we (as guides and fisherman) expect the brutal heat while on the water and do everything we can to prepare ourselves for it. Many of us guide and have “real jobs” on the side. Our preparation for the heat of the day not only keeps us fishing and guiding but allows us to not need a day off from our ‘day on the water’ to recuperate. Clients that show up dressed for the sun and heat in my experience catch more fish because they are able to fish hard from the first cast to last cast. Sun block, while an important part of the equation, can only go so far.

While on the water whether I’m fishing or guiding during the summer, you’ll find me covered from head to toe in clothing. Big straw hats, Buff sun masks, long sleeve shirts, pants and (yes, gloves). I’ve hyperlinked what I’m wearing in the picture. It seems to counter common sense that wearing so much clothing when its 105 will help keep you cool but it does. With the advances in outdoor clothing these technical garments create a barrier from the sun and “wick” moister (perspiration) in a way that you actually sweat less and what you do sweat evaporates in a more controlled manner. I’m not going to “cut and paste” a bunch of scientific evidence into this article as it is my experience that when I dress in this manner I’m a better guide for my clients and a better husband/father when my day on the water ends and the real work starts upon getting home.

Proper hydration isn’t something you can fix the day of. We all should be drinking water on a day-to-day basis. Bottled water won’t solve a dehydration or volume depletion problem the day of and while on the water, it can actually create serious complications (wearing my paramedic hat now) by flushing out electrolytes that well, are pretty damn important to being alive. As a medic this time of year we see a lot of people that don’t drink enough water on a day to day basis only to have it bite them in the ass after a full day in the sun. I’ve seen some scary cardiac rhythms associated with dehydration in “normal enough folks” that could have been avoided by just drinking a normal amount of water during the days before and wearing appropriate clothing. Shorts and t-shirts won’t cut it.

I think we all could easily drop a small fortune on gear without out a second thought. Personally it doesn’t take much to convince me that some shiny object to replace my perfectly good “older” shiny object is a must have for an upcoming trip (I’ve got a few coming). If you look at clothing as “gear” than it’s easy to justify a couple outfits for the elements. Rationally speaking it makes absolute sense to wear clothing that will keep you in the game longer whether it’s the trip of a lifetime or an afternoon on the Lower Colorado River with us.

I started this a while ago; I remember where I was when I stopped typing. This blog post was going to be about a fun trip I had just returned from with Jef and Clay. As I typed it out that Saturday morning Alvin’s early phone call stopped me from finishing it mid sentence. This still will be about an awesome fishing trip to and awesome place with awesome friends, Alvin’s phone call that Saturday morning was the news that Clay had died the night before, it will be a little different than the original was going to be. Over the last 2 years (I guess) Clay had been pretty tied down with school. The paramedic program Clay had completed (I speak from experience) ain’t no joke. I very clearly remember being told early on that if you wanted to complete this 5-semester program, put everything on the back burner, friends, fun, hobbies, etc, etc, I did it and so did Clay. Clay had come through the pipeline and had been working as a Medic, we took a fishing trip that we had been talking about for as long as Clay had been in school.

We were trying to figure out a trip to New Mexico when Jef mentioned broken bow. Broken what I asked? Beavers Bend State park is a quick 6-hour drive from Austin. Jef set it all up and a few weeks after first talking about it we were cooking up IH-35 headed towards Oklahoma. There are people that know a lot more about this place than I do but I’m typing this and “they” aren’t. Maybe they would argue this but there was nothing tricky about this stream. For what it is spillway creek is awesome as was the fishing. This is a man made 4-mile stretch of water with every type of water imaginable, Pocket water, Fast water, slow water, undercut banks, and big…really big fish.

I’ll qualify how good the fishing was with this. The fishing was so good we didn’t take a single “grip & grin” we all had cameras we just never got around to pulling them out, we were too busy catching fish. Clay and I were fishing a hole when the fish started rising; I sat on a rock and heckled Clay as he caught one after another for about 30 minutes. Normally we would have fished it together taking turns, being up there for a few days allowed us to relax from our “pound it” mentality. I’m happy I sat on that rock and gave Clay a hard time. We fished together and alone. We fished Streamers, Dries and nymph’d. The fish were where they were supposed to be and it was magnificent. We fished 3 days and 2 nights. It was cold, ice in the guides cold. The days reached the lows 30’s and the nights dropped down into the teens. The cabins we stayed in were awesomely adequate. We ate like kings every night, then would settle in around the fire for cigar or 2 afterwards.

Just the ones we would take with us..

Lemons Clay, May you carry many. JF & WC

Clay was in rare form, or I should say back to his old self. Without the stress of school and now employed he was happier than I’d seen him be in a long time and he kept us laughing the whole time. Take from this what you will, Go check out Broken Bow, Ok. Stay the night and bring a buddy. The fishing was really spectacular and we didn’t really work that hard at it.

A little while ago I bought a project and I'm about to start the process again. Last time I had a lot of requests to write a build report and not having the platform to do so I used FB which was me just posting a lot of pictures with out much reporting or content. This time around I plan to use this site and as this begins to take shape write about it.

So…the last project was a Jon or John boat with an outboard jet drive. From now on I’m just going to refer to these boats as Jet-Sleds. My first Jet-Sled (V1) was a riveted Alumacraft 1432 (14 feet long and 32” on the bottom) with an old Evinrude 25 hp.

Somewhere on I-35 Fueling up on a Double Quarter pounder

I really was Just buying the engine for another boat so I really didn’t care if the boat leaked (it did) or what condition it was in (rough). If I could get it for the right price (I did) the engine wouldn't even need to run (it didn’t). I had done enough research and talked to mechanics, friends and who ever would listen. We were confidant that if it didn't run 800 bucks would fix that (it did). The boat was reborn, used for a while with friends then sold when I ruptured my Achilles tendon, which was fine, I wasn’t in love with the boat. She was a handful on the water and in no way conducive to guiding. She did however run like a scalded dog and had a unique look. I plan to fix the “handful” problem with waterline and will most likely shoot for the same look and outfit the V2 Jet-sled in the same manner.

I really enjoyed the last project and tolerated (very well I must say) all the “dude, when ya gonna be done so "WE" can go fish in it” or “dude, your OCD”. This project will most likely take longer. Jet-sled V1 came as a package deal…Boat, Motor and trailer, at present time I have none of what I need accept a clearer understanding of what worked and what didn’t, that and a line on a 40/30 Yamadog.

Poppy supervising while I work, She's 18 months now so this wont work.

Stay tuned sports fans I’m looking forward to this project and sharing it on this web sites blog

One of the many attributes of fly fishing lies in the simple beauty of handcrafted gear commonly found in fly shops. Fortunately some companies continue to make a name for themselves by producing these finely crafted goods and products. Accordingly, whether it’s hand-tied flies or a custom rod, fly fisherman seem to have always coveted these artisan made goods.

Over the years I have had the luxury and opportunity to own many great hand-crafted fly fishing products—no matter the cost or the sacrifice. These cost were always justifiable, usually qualified as, “a legacy purchase to pass on to my grandchildren”, “one-of-a-kind”, “a-dying-art”, etc. When I was younger, single, and childless I could always find a way to afford those expensive aforementioned purchases and never regretted it one bit. Now I’m older, a bit less selfish, and married with kids who always seem to be needing braces, glasses, blank checks for after school activities, and a long list of other expenses. Frankly, it’s getting harder to justify buying expensive fly fishing gear or any gear for that reason. Fortunately, when you buy the best it seems to last forever and I want for nothing—well almost nothing.

For the good part of a decade — right about the time my second daughter was born — I have been wanting a hand-crafted landing net for my guiding. I have made due with a myriad of so-so mass-produced nets that never seem to hold up and always fall short of my expectations. Disclaimer: I am also very hard on my equipment. It’s been said more than a few times, “dude… you could brake an anvil!” As a result I usually am disappointed by mass-produced and poorly crafted gear.

A few months back I asked my good friend Jeff Robuck if he wanted to go on a float on a local river. Jeff was in, however, he made it clear that he wanted to do some wading in order to test out his new net. Once I heard net I was all ears. You see, Jeff is a very talented wood worker, sculptor, and world class craftsmen. How many of you reading this have ever built a bamboo rod, an electric guitar, custom furniture, countless cabinets, etc? My guess is that your answer is along the lines of, “nope”, “never” or “once, but it was a disaster”. Well, in Jeff’s case he has done it all and always better than most. I have friends that are richer than Jeff but few are more talented. When he showed up to go fishing that day his net was one of his own creations, a true one-of-a-kind, beautifully crafted, and most astonishingly, it was the first one he had ever built. I have seen a lot of great nets in my day and this one was a beauty and near perfect. I remember thinking that net is too beautiful to ride in the back of my truck.

We had a heck of a day fishing and his net got a work out — especially when he caught a nice 20” hooked-jawed rainbow. It was that giant fish that convinced Jeff that he needed to build a much bigger second net for himself. On the way back from the river Jeff reflected on the day and all of the great days we have shared in my boat over the last several seasons. All I could do is think about that damn net and how he could craft something that beautiful without previous knowledge of net building, no plans, or a jig to go by. Finally, I had to ask the unthinkable, “Hey Jeff, could you build me a landing net and what would it cost?” His answer floored me, “Yes, I can build you a net, and it won’t cost you a dime.” I insisted that I must pay something. I didn’t have any money but had a hunch that I could talk my wife and daughters into buying it as a Christmas/birthday/anniversary/father’s day gift. Jeff replied, “Yeck no, you take me fishing and I want repay the favor”. He then added, “You can help me build it and then it will have even more importance to you.” It’s funny that Jeff would even think of involving me in this process. On several ocassions he has seen firsthand my poor wood-working skills on more than one ill-fated projects ranging from rod racks to floors for my raft to a bed for my truck. All were laughably none were successful.

On a warm winter day last week and a rare day off I went over to Jeff’s workshop and began my apprenticeship as a “net builder in training”. Upon my arrival he had already traced out a 54” long landing net based on his recollection of our previous conversations. He wanted my input all I could do is smile and reply “it’s freakin' awesome”. From there we proceeded to make the plywood jig that would house the strips of teak and Brazilian tiger wood. After cutting all the components and a dry-fit in the jig it was time to mix up the epoxy and start clamping up the net.

For the next 72 hours time seemed to stand still until I received the text from Jeff containing the image of “the net” out of the jig and ready for routing, sanding, and spar varnish. Fast forward to the day of the Super Bowl (AKA: Floyd Mayweather’s Last Day as a Millionaire). My full-day float trip had turned into a half-day trip due to my client’s kiddo’s frozen hands and feet (remember I guide in Texas — not BC or Michigan — and we aren’t built for temperatures below 30°F). Heading home from the river early I picked up the phone and invited Jeff over for my not-so-famous turkey chili, beers, and the big game. Jeff insisted—as always—on bringing something and I insisted back that we needed nothing. In true Jeff Robuck fashion he didn’t show up empty handed. In walked Jeff with the most beautiful landing net I have ever seen, which turned out to be the best part of the Super Bowl.

In a few years none of us will remember that Superbowl, but mark my words, I’ll remember that Sunday as the day I first laid eyes on my landing net. Like all of you, I will always remember and appreciate those special one-of-a-kind, hand-crafted, artisian-made goods that someone somewhere took the time to build and cared enough to craft. In the end, handcrafted fly-fishing goods are worth every penny and are a longstanding tradition of fly fishing that is worth preserving.

Jeff Robuck might (I repeat, might) build you a net, a bamboo rod, or even a custom guitar for the right price—the price might shock you but the end result will truly amaze you. It’s hard to put a price for a one-of-a-kind work of art that you will enjoy for a lifetime and more.

PS: The Landing net is now getting spar varnished and the clear net attached. Hoping to have it on the boat by this weekend. Fingers crossed!

Being the greenest member of this group when it comes to guiding I had a less than comfort level with the Guadalupe, professionally speaking. With a couple trips around the corner I asked Alvin to play Client for a day and join me on the Guadalupe on his next day off. First, this says a lot about Alvin. He knew it was important enough to me to do and as the Boss his “open door” policy meant that on his day off (a cold and windy one at that) he would spend it with me on the water and away from home. Honesty, any of the guys would have done it. Good dudes for sure!

A walk to the boat

So now that I’m done kissing ass I’ll say this. I’ve got no problem rolling into a joint I know nothing about and catching fish. Fish gotta eat, and I’m good enough to catch them, as I did last month in the “middle of nowhere” Kentucky. This “lunch with the boss” was all about AWG clients. I’ve fished the Guad enough to know the “fishing” aspect this trip was more logistics.

With an open seat on the boat and my spot for the day being understood (just row, Winston) I invited a dude who, in my opinion, is Central Texas fly-fishing, Mr Diefische. If you follow Diefische (I think you should) you know that last year he unlocked the Guad and will probably do so again this year. He is a great writer, a solid fisherman and humble, as the day we were about to have is long. Fun dudes to have on the boat for sure!

So we pushed off around 1200 and to make a long story short, 4 hours later we had managed 1 fish. I had 2 dudes that knew that river as well as anyone. We fished flies we knew work and when they didn’t we changed it up to others. We didn’t “throw the kitchen sink” at them instead we focused in finer on what we knew had worked in the past and fished a little harder.

Say Cheese Mr fische

I was out for other reasons than just catching fish, so for me the day was hugely successful. Tail Waters are tricky; they seem to have an on/off switch. This was a good reminder that when the fishing is off the fish don’t care who is in the boat. As we said our goodbyes I remembered what my friend Jake said once “a skunk day will show you more about the character of your fishing buddies than anything else” but we didn’t get skunked so who cares what Jake and those “chi Wulff guys” think.

I first need to say that I enjoy building my own leaders. Most likely the store bought ones are better. (However, I cut those up too.) Also it gets expensive if you’re as tough on stuff as I am. Many in our community enjoy tying flies, I don’t. I enjoy building my own leaders. My nymph rig is not my own as I’ve cut and pasted what I like from others I’ve seen. It also needs to be said that Indicator Nymphing is pretty new to me. Having not grownup around tail waters I learned other ways.

My biggest issue with bobbers is that they destroy my leaders. Okay, “destroy” is probably the wrong word. My leaders seem to get all jacked-up from them though. You’ll notice a couple things in my rig. First, I run my bobber “inline” and secondly, I use a swivel. If you don’t see it, trust me it’s there. I’ll leave the swivel alone for now to let that digest. The nail knots of old fly-line secure the bobber where you want it on the butt section giving you your desired depth. However, you can make adjustments to your depth by just sliding the nail knots up and down the butt section. I’ve tried this on tapered leaders without much success. I think the declining diameter of the butt section allows the nail knots to slip. For comparison, this leader recipe will be pretty darn close to an Orvis 9’ 5x knotless tapered leader.

I use 3-4 feet of 30lb MAXIMA Ultragreen Mono (0.22”) for my butt section. MAXIMA is great stuff and has the stiffness required for a butt section. I’m pretty diligent on my lengths, for various and complicated reasons, so when I say 3-4 feet it is 3 feet or 4. I cut a longer section to work with and thread the bobber on inline. Then with old fly line tie in 2 nail knots on either side. Make them good and make them tight. I do 5 turns in mine. After you’re done with that, tie your perfection loop in one end and cut down your leaders butt section to the desired length keeping in mind the knot. (I’m a perfectionist and, yes, I will start over if it’s an inch off.)

For my mid section, I use Berkley VANISH Fluorocarbon. It’s supple and a good transition to the tip. With a 30lb butt section I’ll use 10lb test (0.11”) tied in with an improved blood knot. Capt. Dave Hunt, a tarpon guide whom I’ve fished with, instilled in me the importance of choosing the right knot for the right application, which I appreciate. Because of the drop in diameter between the two, I feel the improved is a better choice but I could be wrong. To finish off the mid section I use a swivel.

If you’ve never used a swivel or a tippet ring you should give it a shot. I am constantly breaking off, knotting up, cutting back…etc…etc… my tip section. The swivel helps with the cold finger tie-in if you have to completely redo your flies because of a tree, besides the extra little weight is good and I promise the fish don’t care. The business end of the rig is completely up to you.

For my tip section, I will tie to the swivel 1-2 feet of 4lb Berkley VANISH (0.009”) then my Frogs Hair Tippet 5x with a good ole’ double surgeons knot. I like the Frogs Hair because I get a deal on it and I’m nerdy. The gamma technology and their proprietary process is fun to read about and just like the Vanish it is made in the USA.

So there ya have it! Take it or leave it, use it or don’t. Just go fishing.

Lately, a lot of folks are asking me the same question, "what flies are working?" We are keeping it simple throwing crawfish patterns in black and brown as well as Clouser Minnows in chartreuse and white. Also, we did manage to catch a few nice fish on poppers this past week when the weather and water temps permitted. Pretty basic patterns are the ticket for winter bass on the Colorado River.

My new favorite crawfish pattern is theLead-eyed Double Bunny Crawfish (AKA "DB Craw") tied on 1/0 — 2X Mustad Signature hook. The two most productive colors are black and brown/orange. As predicted all of my crawfish patterns are tied with with a 25# mono (Hard Mason) weed-guard.

In the winter we get a really good run of white bass mixed in with our usual catches of Guadalupe and large mouth bass. We have yet to find a more productive fly for white bass than the Clouser Minnow. The best color has been chartreuse and white Clousers using 1/32 oz. on lead-eyes tied on a 1/0 — 2X Mustad Signature hook with a 25# mono (Hard Mason) weed-guard.

Winter bass fishing is great right now so grab a handful of crawfish and Clouser patterns and your favorite 6-weight the bass are ready and willing!

No one wants to be called a “bench warmer”, but the truth is, every team relies on crucial players that spend most of their time on the bench. So, what does this have to do with fly fishing? As fishing guides we are all very reliant on fly boxes stuffed full of well-crafted flies, which have to be tied by someone with special skills manning a fly tying “bench”. For us a bench warmer is someone who can spend hour after hour at the tying bench cranking out flies.

Over the course of a season we go through a ton of flies and we can’t physically—or mentally—handle tying flies day-in and day-out. We are talking about hundreds of flies, some of which are difficult and time consuming to tie and quite frankly, beyond our skill set. Additionally, many of our favorite patterns are custom, meaning that they vary greatly from the flies you can find in your local fly shop or online retailer. In almost all cases our flies need to be more durable, have specific color variations, and other incorporate finishes like heavy weighted eyes and stout weed guards.

For the last couple of years I kept seeing photos and reading post from a group of hardcore smallmouth and pike fisherman in the northeast who were catching nice fish on beautiful flies tied by this crazy bearded and tattooed fly tier named Pat Cohen. Sure enough I checked out Pat’s website and friended him on Facebook and it didn’t take long for me to realize that Pat has some mad tying skills that I will never master.

Pat not only speaks bass fishing, he is also a diehard bass fisherman. It shows in his flies, which reflect his vast knowledge of bass, where they hide, what they eat, and most importantly, what they can be fooled by. I am excited that Pat has offered to work with me and All Water Guides to further develop a his already incredible line of crawfish, baitfish, popper and diver patterns. With our year-round bass fishery here in Texas—our northern brethren don’t get to bass fish all winter like us—and plenty of huge river bass we have the ability to field test new prototypes and refine existing patterns giving Pat “real-time” data all year long.

I spent the weekend testing some custom divers Pat recently tied for me. Despite poor water visibility, cold temperatures and heavy weekend fishing pressure these divers moved some huge bass. See for your self how beautiful Pat’s flies are—follow him on Facebook or better yet visit his website and order flies from him direct.

Imagine this. Pat ties every fly himself—using the absolute best materials—and when you call him on the phone you actually get to speak to Pat. As far as we are concerned a bench warmer is a good thing and when Pat Cohen is at his bench that means we can all be catching fish.

Jeff Davis and I took a little road trip to southern Missouri the other day. The reason was to pick up a jet drive outboard for my new Hog Island Skiff. We kept getting asked why we were driving so far to buy a boat motor.

Well you see this is no ordinary boat motor. Outboard jets are not real common in this part of the country. Anglers in Arkansas and Missouri have used jet powered boats for years to access shallow rocky sections of their rivers that conventional prop driven boats would never survive in.

On rivers where there is little access or long distances between put ins and takeouts, a jet boat can open up miles of seldom fished water. When floating under oar or paddle power fishing a 6 mile section of the river can take all day. With the option to use the engine we can cover 12 to 20 miles of water with no problem. Because we are in no hurry to get downstream we can take our time in the best water and motor through the less productive sections.

Fishing as well as guiding in the Texas
heat takes a toll on our bodies and dehydration is always a concern. Experienced guides stress proper hydration to their clients
throughout a long day of fishing. According to the American College of
Sports Medicine, to avoid dehydration, active people should drink approximately
16 ounces of H20 one to two hours before an outdoor activity. You should
continue to consume six to twelve ounces of fluids—a combination of H20 and
sports drinks—every 15 minutes that you are outside. So let’s add up all the
fluids we need in a day. To comply with the above recommendations you should
consume between 24 and 48 ounce of fluids per hour, so over the course of an eight-hour
day of fishing you should consume around eight 24oz bottles of water plus an
additional two to four 16oz bottles of sports drinks. The average angler could
consume at the lower end of the recommendations where as a guide will need to
consume at the higher end of the recommendations.

That's a lot of water and sports drink to carry in a cooler and
the bi-product at the end of the day is a few dozen plastic bottles headed to
recycling! If we extrapolate this over the entire guide/outfitter industry worldwide
that is a staggering amount of disposable plastic bottles. Conscience of this,
many guides have gone away from disposable bottles and have started using
BPA-free Nalgene bottles. Though a bit pricey, reusable Nalgene bottles are
rugged, carry 32oz, and best of all they don’t end up in a landfill or headed
to recycling. Personally, I carry around six sterilized Nalgene bottles—don’t
worry they are cleaned after every trip—in my cooler along with two 1-gallon
jugs that are filled with filtered rainwater from a local water supplier. Most
of my clients don’t seem to mind and don’t seem to miss the disposable plastic
bottles. At the end of the day shoulders are sore, our bodies are hydrated, and
Mother Nature has been giving a break.

So next time you are headed out fishing plan
accordingly and avoid the temptation of using disposable plastic water bottles.
Chances are you already have high quality reusable water bottles due to other
outdoor interest so put them to good use And continue to enjoy the great outdoors.

Fast Facts on Disposable Bottles

2,480,000 tons of plastic bottles and jars were thrown away in one year (2008).

Tap water is cleaner, cheaper and healthier than store-bought water.

60 billion single-use drink containers were purchased in 2006, and 3 out of 4 were thrown out directly after use.

Plastic bottles are among the most prevalent source of pollution found on our beaches.

The short answer would be a 9 foot 6 weight. But who needs a short answer when we are talking about fly rods, and everyone knows there is no way to cover all your bases with just one rod. So let's dig a little deeper and figure out what fly rod would cover the most water for the average Central Texas angler.

The 9 foot 6 weight rod would be my first choice for a few reasons. I fish for bass on the Colorado River more than any other local water, and a 6 weight rod allows me to cast larger poppers and streamers that are sometimes required to to catch the larger Colorado River bass. The same rod would work well for nymphing on the Guadalupe River. The 9 foot length is perfect for mending and a 6 weight will make it easy to cast the multi-fly strike indicator set ups.

If I had to chose another rod it would be an 8.5 or 9 foot 5 weight. The 5 may be a better choice if I spent more time on the Llano River or the San Marcos River. A 5 weight rod will be lighter and the 8.5 foot length will make it a little easier to cast in tight situations. In the next post I will discuss the most appropriate rods on a river by river basis.

I had a great time as the guest tyer at Sportsman’s Finest (SF) Tuesday night fly tying class. We tied up the infamous Flip-flop Popper designed by All Water Guides’ head guide Alvin Dedeaux. We had a packed house and plenty of nice poppers for everyone’s fly boxes at the end of the night—bass be aware! The Flip-flop Popper is a staple in my bass fly box and accounts for the majority of all bass caught on the fly. If you want the “recipe” stop by SF and they will set you up with everything you need.

As always, the SF crew—Greg, Stacy, Chuck, Ted, and Lindy—was amazing. The Austin area is fortunate to have a great fly shop that always goes the extra mile for it’s customers and the greater fly fishing community. Thanks again to SF and Greg for the invitation!

I like sinking lines; there I’ve said it. Don’t get me wrong I love banging the banks with a large Flip Flop Fly or one of Alvin’s Foamy fold-over things. When the fish are looking up and the water is clear, sight casting to bass as we do is without a doubt the way to go. Blasting one of these flies into cover and watching it get crushed from below after a couple strips is awesome but the fish are not always going to cooperate with our desire.

I’m not sure where the controversy started or even if it exists (truly) but people seem to cringe with pain when I mention anything "sinky." We still get to fly fish when we use a sinker. We continue to use a fly rod to cast a line that in turn drags a weightless fly along with it. I am by no means a great caster and do find casting a sinking fly on floating line a problem. My casting becomes labored, cumbersome and just plain UGLY. I could go on and on but I won't. Here are a couple thoughts I have starting with the least "sinky" to full on sink.

When I have a BIG foam bug that is skipping and not giving me the KER-PLUNK I need, I use a short 4’ clear intermediate poly leader that pulls the fly down just a bit on the strip. Crazy talk you say? It gets worse. The bigger the fly (still talking top water) the more sink I add, when I fish a big Montauk Monster or a Banger I use a faster sink tip which when stripped pulls that big spun deer hair or plug just below the surface creating all kinds of “COME AND GET ME” commotion.

Now that I’m done with the craziness of using sinking tips with floating flies lets talk real quickly about true sinking lines. My favorite is the Depth Finder by AirFlo. I love the 175gr on my Helios 10' 7wt. (I like crazy fast rods with sinkers.) With a 23' head that sinks in a uniform manner you can get an unweighted crawfish pattern down to where the fish are. I’ve heard all kinds of opinions on leader length while using this method and I’m not going to jump in. I will say that straight Flouro less than 14lb test is what I use. You're going to foul and if you’re breaking off less than 14lb test you're not likely damaging the core of your fly line. A rumor that I will happily chime in on is that lines like this cast “clunky" and “poorly.” I disagree. As I said above, a floating line and weighted fly, in my opinion, is the clunky presentation. With a density compensated line you still get loops and proper turn over because, again, your casting the line with non-weighted fly.

I’ll end with this. As fellow AWGGuide JD points out "we all can learn a lot from the Bass Masters on a Sunday morning" (that’s tough to swallow). He’s absolutely 100% correct though. Those boys catch fish and I don’t see them using Hula Poppers! They go to where the fish are and most of the time that’s deeper in the water column. So enjoy the Summer! Fish those poppers knowing that at any second its gonna get crushed but if ya need a little help with the "come get me," try an intermediate leader with it. I can also say that having a sinking rod rigged and ready for those deeper spots won't hurt. Just dont tell anyone.

As anglers, we all have much to learn from the squirrel who collects nuts all summer and fall in preparation for a long winter. Few guides I know have the luxury of taking time off when not guiding. There is always work to be done, but let’s face it, it's all pretty rewarding work. Task often include: patching waders, patching rafts, tying flies, replacing fly line, and working on outboards to name a few. However, there is one task above all that guides love more than any other and that is rigging out a boat.

Well, much like the squirel I spent the better part of two months in between work and family preparing for spring and summer bass fishing. Most of this time was dedicated rigging my 17ft Weldbilt aluminum boat — http://www.backwoodslanding.com — custom designed for a jet drive outboard. No matter what, every guide has his own special way of rigging boats and this was no different. First, it started with trying to make the boat more accommodating for my anglers, which meant adding comfortable seats, leaning bars, padded floor mats, and a new 45QT Yeti cooler to keep everything cool. Next, I added high quality fly rod holders to keep rods safe, a beefy Dierks anchor system, NRS oar locks, and custom Sawyer oars.

Finally, it was time to service my reliable Yamaha 40/30 hp jet drive outboard_she old but she is lightweight and reliable. With a tune-up, new water pump, thermostat, and impeller she is running like a scolded demon—whatever that means. Yep, a guide's boat is part office, part transportation, and part mistress, which means we spend a lot of time with them and we rely on them.

The boat could not have turned out any better—give All Water Guides a call and see the rig in person while catching and releasing trophy river bass on the fly!